An interesting contrast – the good, the bad and the ugly

Reaction from the shooting community to the sound of shooting and the coverage of a trapped Peregrine on a grouse moor in the Forest of Bowland:   The Good:  BASC are pretty much spot on in what they say: BASC statement on RSPB peregrine film BASC utterly condemns raptor persecution and other wildlife crime. There…

Fake Bird News anyone?

  The Angus Glens Moorland Group need not only to go to Specsavers but also back to school (where I imagine they might spend quite a lot of time in detention). Their maths, English, science and logic are all in need of some education. Raptor Persecution UK have quite rightly taken the mickey out of…

Lots of satellite-tagged Hen Harriers

  These are some words from Inglorious (written in 2014), they are the imagined words of an ex-gamekeeper writing of the demise of driven grouse shotoing p253-54): ‘In the end, with all that satellite-tag stuff, you could hardly point your shotgun at a bird of prey without fearing it might be a tagged bird that…

Guest blog – Wildfire and Moorland Management by Bob Berzins

Wildfire and Moorland Management The moorland above Carrbrook Greater Manchester has been devastated by one of the largest moorland fires in recent years. The fire started on 24th June and burnt for around three weeks covering an area of 18 sq km. The cloud of smoke was visible from space and residents had to abandon…

Lia is down

The RSPB announced yesterday that a female Hen Harrier (Lia), satellite-tagged in north Wales in 2017, was found dead in suspicious circumstances in mid Wales, near Tylwch, south of Llanidloes, in May this year. The results of the post mortem examination suggest that she might have been shot (although the evidence given is suggestive but…

Now, don’t lose your rag over this, please.

That there is a link between lead exposure and violent crime has been known for quite a l0ng time, and is the subject of some quite extraordinary correlations between removal of lead from petrol and reduction in violent crime rates across the globe, backed up by plenty of studies that illuminate the potential causal links….

Scottish trip

Going to Scotland at the weekend served many purposes: I saw my son, I picked up many cases of whisky (not all mine) which were purchased years ago but have now matured, I escaped the heat of southern England for the relative coolness of central Scotland, I had a brief look at the Strathbraan Raven…

Good news from the Dark Peak

The National Trust has announced that a nest of Hen Harriers with four chicks is on their land, on a grouse moor.  They sound quite surprised by this:   ‘We’re delighted to learn of this nest.‘ said Jon Stewart, the National Trust’s General Manager for the Peak District. ‘The hen harrier has been one of…